A Queer Geography of Oxford

A Queer Geography of Oxford - by Valentino Vecchietti 2019/2022

With an emphasis on recycled, natural, materials, A Queer Geography of Oxford comprised of numerous 3-dimensional collage boxes, a large map, and three cork boards, which focused on: the past, the present, and future visions of queer Oxford. Valentino originally created this piece in 2019 for the Queering Spires exhibition (photos 2-9) and displayed it again in the museum in 2022 (photo 10).

This art work is intended to empower the new generation of queer community, as well as the long standing queer community in Oxdord. By looking back through our historical and geographical presence in the built environment of Oxford’s City Centre we can see how much dedicated queer space we once had.

Each collage box presents an historical account, and a vision for a future Oxford, which suggests must include: a centrally located LGBTIQA+ Centre; an intersex and trans inclusive Women’s Centre; dedicated sober queer spaces; as well as dedicated spaces for queer arts and culture. It encourages everyone in our community to reimagine Oxford city as an inclusive space, and reminds us that visibility and inclusion create safe and welcoming environments.

From the mid-2000’s there has been a systematic erasure of centrally located queer venues in Oxford’s built environment. Concurrently, there has been an exponential rise in homophobic, lesbophobic, biphobic, transphobic, and interphobic hate crime.

The increase in anti-queer rhetoric and violence can be seen in direct correlation to the loss over time of queer visibility. The once centrally located buildings, seen here on this map, which were dedicated to our existence, and regularly brought us into central city spaces to take up, occupy and share space with the wider community, made Oxford a safer space for all.

My intention for this work is to engage with our histories and experiences, both positive and negative. I believe that new approaches to inclusion, and new knowledge created by ideas such as intersectionality can help us to reimagine queer spaces in Oxford.  Spaces that are safe, joyful, thriving, and relevant.

Historically, Oxford’s queer community has sculpted many of our lives, whether we held back because we felt unable to come out, or whether we felt fully embraced and able to participate in the vibrant scene that Oxford once offered through its many queer venues, events, and spaces, most of which no longer exist.

For me, this project has been a journey of joy, sorrow, and at times abject exclusion. But I have so much hope for what we can create in this city for future generations. Oxford’s queer history belongs to us. Let’s embrace it, add our voices to it, and collectively, actively, create: the future Queer Geography of Oxford.

Valentino Vecchietti 2022

About the Artist:

Valentino Vecchietti (she/they) is an award winning writer, artist, and equality campaigner.

In 2019, Valentino Founded Intersex Equality Rights UK, an intersex-led organization which campaigns for equality and supports organizations to ethically include people with intersex variations.

Intersex is an umbrella term for over 40 different variations in our sex characteristics that we can be born with.

We all have natural variations in our sexual orientations and in our gender identities, and it is also natural to be born with variations in our sex characteristics.

In May 2021, Valentino redesigned the progress Pride flag to include the intersex community; creating the intersex-inclusive Pride flag (photo 1). The flag went viral on the internet and was internationally welcomed as the new Pride flag.